Germany

Germany's Round of 32 exit is as brutal as the format can produce: Havertz's second-half equaliser cancelled out Enciso's opener, and when neither side could be separated across 90 minutes, Paraguay held their nerve in the shootout, converting four of four while Germany stumbled to three. A group-stage winner undone before the last sixteen, Joachim Löw's side — or whoever currently stewards this generation — departs a tournament they entered with genuine ambitions, beaten not by a superior team across the pitch but by the cold lottery of penalties.